History comes alive in Shelburne

Book of Negroes ensures no one will forget little-known part of N.S. history: actor

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Actor Hugh Thompson waits for his scene during a shoot in Shelburne for The Book of Negroes. (BRIAN MEDEL/Yarmouth Bureau)

Actor Hugh Thompson waits for his scene during a shoot in Shelburne for The Book of Negroes. (BRIAN MEDEL/Yarmouth Bureau)

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A film crew prepared thousands of litres of soapsud snow for use on the Shelburne set of The Book of Negroes. (BRIAN MEDEL/Yarmouth Bureau)

A film crew prepared thousands of litres of soapsud snow for use on the Shelburne set of The Book of Negroes. (BRIAN MEDEL/Yarmouth Bureau)

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A hose distributes the soapy snow on the set. (BRIAN MEDEL/Yarmouth Bureau)

A hose distributes the soapy snow on the set. (BRIAN MEDEL/Yarmouth Bureau)

Hugh Thompson remembers Roots.

The award-winning Nova Scotia actor was about 14 when the epic miniseries following an African family from enslavement to emancipation became must-see TV for a generation.

Now he’s part of a miniseries telling the story of Aminata Diallo, captured in her African homeland and forced to work as a slave in South Carolina, before journeying to Nova Scotia, Sierra Leone and England in a quest for freedom.

The Book of Negroes, the six-part miniseries based on Lawrence Hill’s 2007 bestseller of the same name, and shooting now in Nova Scotia, stars Lou Gossett Jr., who won an Emmy for his role as Fiddler in the 1977 miniseries Roots.

“It’s great to have people like Lou come in to be part of this story,” says Thompson, who can’t enthuse enough about the Oscar winner who has impressed everyone on set with his friendliness and graciousness.

“He brings a lot of weight; it’s not just his name, he’s such a skilled actor.”

Dressed in a tricorne hat, a rough wool waistcoat with a line of smart brass buttons, a linen shirt with dropped shoulders and full sleeves, and dark wool pants that end at the knees, revealing thick grey socks, Thompson sits on a stone wall in Shelburne surveying the bustling waterfront.

It’s the third of four days filming in the pretty South Shore town. The production also shot in Louisbourg, Cole Harbour and is moving to Lunenburg where filming is slated to wrap up on May 20. Shooting began Feb. 3 in South Africa.

The road is covered in 60 tonnes of sand, and dotted with soapsuds to simulate snow for the day Aminata (Aunjanue Ellis) arrives in Shelburne and meets Daddy Moses (Gossett Jr.) in the late 18th century.

The Amistad, which is standing in for a couple of sailing vessels, and which arrived on schedule on May 3 after three months of planning, is tied up nearby.

A team of oxen passes by two handsome draught horses pulling a heavy load of wooden barrels, while armed British Redcoats, and all classes of men and women in clothes of the era, mill about.

Thompson, the star of TV series Forgive Me and Black Harbour, miniseries October 1970 and Sea Wolf, and many more projects for stage and screen, worked with Book of Negroes director Clement Virgo and producer Damon d’Oliveira of Toronto’s Conquering Lion Pictures on Nova Scotia-shot Poor Boys Game in 2007.

“I was doing Macbeth in the park in Toronto when I first heard Book of Negroes was being done,” says Thompson, who lives in Sambro with his wife and eight-year-old son.

“The book was such a success, it’s such a powerful piece, and they’ve captured cinematically the spirit of it. It’s an honour to be part of.”

Thompson plays Constable Theodore Barnes, a policeman who tries to keep law and order between the Black Loyalists of Birchtown and the white settlers of nearby Shelburne.

He says the miniseries, to be shown in 2015 on CBC in Canada and BET, ensures no one will ever forget a little-known part of Canada’s history that happened in Nova Scotia.

“People think of us as a welcoming nation, and some people were. There was slavery in Canada, though it was abolished before Confederation. Life was made so difficult for the Black Loyalists that a lot decided to leave in the exodus to Sierra Leone.”

Still, there were good people along with the bad, people like the miniseries character Judith Palmer, who steps into the middle of a riot to push for peace, he says.

Palmer is portrayed by Meredith MacNeill, who was born in Pictou, attended high school in Amherst and went to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, England. She worked for the Royal Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare’s Globe company and England’s National Theatre Company before returning to Pictou a few years ago.

Book of Negroes is the second movie she’s done since her return. She filmed Big News from Grand Rock in Ontario and also worked on TV’s 22 Minutes.

D’Oliveira, who had hoped to work with MacNeill on a previous Virgo-directed film and couldn’t, as she was in England, is thrilled the talented actor is on board.

The slim brunette describes Judith Palmer as a nurse who is very kind to Aminata and tries to help keep her out of danger. “She has chutzpah, she’s kind of kick-ass.”

MacNeill shows off her costume, meticulously designed for period accuracy, which has four layers of skirts and an apron but no corsets.

“The period influences every choice you make as an actor. You can’t run, you shuffle.”

She read the book when it first came out, and feels blessed to be part of a project bringing to life “a wonderful novel in the very place it happens.”

Thompson, too, is excited about filming in Shelburne, enthusing about a barbecue put on for the cast and crew by the Black Loyalist Society that was attended by Gossett Jr. and Bent, among others.

“A lot of the film came home for me. The head of the Loyalist society said without the book, it was almost like they were written out of history. No one was paying attention.

“We’re not filming in Birchtown proper, but we were on the site of the original place where Daddy Moses established the meeting house. We can look out at the place where the ships came in and people disembarked. Understand the five-mile walk they did from Birchtown to Shelburne winter, spring, summer and fall to look for work, then back again at night to their home and chores and meagre farming.”

Thompson hopes people will watch The Book of Negroes and maybe pick up the book itself, and he hopes they will remember it, the way he still remembers the impression Roots made on him.

“I remember Chicken George (Ben Vereen) and I remember Kunta Kinte (LeVar Burton). … To a 14-year-old it was absolutely mind-blowing.”